


When It Starts // When It Ends

by FrazzledDragon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A smidgeon OOC oopsies my bad, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, I Don't Even Know, I take a prompt you've read before, M/M, We Die Like Men, and put my own kinda twist on it, free write, if you're expecting moving or quality writing you've come to the wrong place, klance, no editing, not EXACTLY what I expected but here we go, not my best work, rated teen for language and suggestive shtuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 15:33:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15975245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrazzledDragon/pseuds/FrazzledDragon
Summary: I take a prompt you've definitely read/seen somewhere else and write it my own way.If I knew who to tag, I would tag them. But Idk, so I'm just gonna say this once.THIS WAS NOT ORIGINALLY MY IDEA I SAW/READ SOMETHING THAT INSPIRED THISThanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!(whispers) I hope you comment your thoughts/opinions/criticisms because that'd be pretty neat





	When It Starts // When It Ends

It starts with a kiss.

Lance wasn’t sure he knew what was happening, much less believe it.

He had been sitting on his bed in his room, carefully filling out his report from their last diplomatic mission. The planet they had last visited, Amandigaral, had been a hippie’s paradise, with a serious ‘LOVE ONLY’ attitude. They, not being particularly fond of war or people who wage it for the control and power it brings, were quick to side with the Coalition. Unfortunately, they, being against war, were not exactly inclined to change that, but agreed to support Voltron diplomatically at every chance they got.

Lance had just finished the last sentence, when Keith staggered his way into the room unbeckoned, swaying slightly on his feet. Lance knew immediately, without a shadow of a doubt, that something was terribly wrong. The fact that Keith was glowing purple may or may not have been a dead-give-away, but there were enough other things wrong that the fact he was glowing didn’t really strike him as the weirdest problem.

For one, Keith was smiling. A big, dopey, _flirty_ grin lit up his features, his cheeks flushed a dark pink underneath his already pinkish, purplish glow. His eyes glinted strangely under the room lights and, although Lance hated that he noticed this, Keith’s lips were glistening. Normally, it was a battle to get the teen to use chapstick, much less lipgloss.

“Keith?” Lance asked warily, standing up with his hands where Keith could see them. “Keith, what’s wrong? What happened?

Keith charged him, slamming him roughly against the wall. Quick as lightning, Keith grabbed Lance’s wrists and pinned them above his head. “KEITH! WHAT THE HELL?! STOP!” 

Keith hadn’t said a single word to help a sputtering Lance, before he kissed him. Roughly, passionately, thoroughly.

Lance didn’t even move, his whole being overwhelmed. He wasn’t sure what to think, wasn’t sure what to do. His whole face flushed hot and he could feel the tips of his ears burning. It wasn’t that Keith was a bad kisser, in fact, it was quite the opposite. 

It was the fact that once again, he was doing something without first asking explicit permission. It was so unlike Keith that Lance couldn’t imagine a situation where he’d do anything like this unpressured.

Lance shifted his hips to the panel, pressing all buttons, but specifically the trouble button, as it had come to called. Every panel in the Castle had one, which would sound an alarm a step down from a panic alarm. It just told the others he was having trouble with something and needed some help.

Which was oddly appropriate, but usually the trouble wasn’t involving another paladin. 

Keith kissed Lance again, a little softer, a little slower. It made shivers go down Lance’s spine. He tried to tug his wrists out from Keith’s grasp, knowing he was stronger than the red paladin, but whatever was making him glow also apparently made him stronger, and he couldn’t even budge.

Lance tried not to think about what the others would say when they saw this.

Fortunately, he didn’t have long to think.

Lance heard knocking. “Lance? I heard the alarm. You okay, buddy?” Hunk. Lance would’ve jumped for joy if Keith hadn’t pressed his body against Lance’s and started kissing his neck.

“Hunk! Come in! You’ve got to get him off me!” Lance called loudly, watching the door slide and Hunk come into the room, ready for a fight. Hunk might be a little too safety conscious sometimes, but he would do anything for his friends.

“What the hell?” He swore softly, looking the two paladins in front of him. From his perspective, a glowing figure that looked a _lot_ like Keith had Lance pinned against the wall and was passionately kissed his neck, and there was a trail of red spots showing his path.

“Please! Hunk! There’s something wrong with him!” Lance yelled, his face burning even darker than before. He knew how it looked. “I can’t get him off and he won’t stop! HUNK!”

Hunk blinked. Then, he came forward, and pulled on Keith. Once again, Keith proved stronger than even Hunk. Hunk blinked again, a concerned frown turning the corners of his mouth as Keith seemed completely unbothered by Hunk’s presence. Hunk didn’t have a lot of experience kissing, but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t want an audience for something like this.

So, he pulled out his bayard and set it to a low-powered stun. He shot Keith, watching the teen freeze, shudder, and fall the ground. By the time he hit the ground, he was no longer glowing and there was no sign that he ever had been. His eyes were glazed and his lips were chapped. 

“Okay, so what the hell was that?” Hunk asked, toeing the red paladin. 

“I don’t know! He just burst into my room and slammed me into a wall! He wouldn’t listen to me, wouldn’t stop…” Lance was trying not to sound too shaken, but was failing. 

Hunk’s gaze turned soft. He knew consent was a sensitive and carefully guarded subject for the bisexual Cuban, and that that was far too aggressive for Lance’s liking. Hunk knew he would probably react the same way if a friend completely violated his space without asking permission or stopping when he asked. “Do you want a hug, Lance?”

Lance shook his head. “I’m okay.”

Hunk raised an eyebrow.

“Okay… fine.”

Both boys were grinning as they embraced. 

“Now, I suppose we should find a way of restraining him until we find out what’s wrong. Even if he wakes up completely fine, I’d still like to run some tests and figure out what happened,” Hunk said, and they carried him to the med bay. 

 

Lance glances around at the various faces, his own burning as he recounts his tale. They were in the conference room, with a jerry-rigged live feed of Keith, who was still unconscious and now strapped to a bed, on the TV. 

“He just… came on to you? Didn’t say anything, didn’t listen?” Shiro asks, clearly very concerned.

“Yes,” Lance says, but it feels weak.

“That doesn’t sound like Keith at all,” Shiro grimaces, knowing his little brother would _never_ do that.

“And he was glowing?” Pidge asks, sounding doubtful.

“Yeah. Hunk saw it too.” Hunk nods his agreement, looking somber.

“ _And_ he was strong enough to best both you and Lance?” Allura inquired.

“Yes. He was super strong, super dopey, and weirdly glossy. Like everything about him was polish and shiny.”

“Okay, so that’s really weird,” Pidge says finally, her glasses glinting as she thinks. “Allura, Coran, can you look through the records and find out what fresh hell this popped out of? And Lance, it would seem that whatever’s possessed Keith only wants you, because otherwise it would have treated Hunk the same way. So, we should test and see just how far it’ll go to get to you and try to figure out what you have that it wants so desperately.”

“Guys? Guys, what’s going on? What happened? Why am I strapped here? Shiro?”

Keith is awake. And not glowing.

“Guys, can you hear me? I really don’t like being trapped. Shiro? What’s going on? I don’t remember. What happened?”

Pidge, her delight at a new puzzle showing, presses the intercom button. “Keith, this is Pidge. We can see and hear you. How are you feeling?”

Keith’s puzzled pout is visible on the camera. “I feel fine. I just can’t remember how I got here. What happened? Where are the others?”

“The others are right here. Tell me, does anything feel off? Inside you, I mean. Anything not-quite right?” Pidge, eloquently, doesn’t answer his first question.

“No, I already told you, I feel fine. Why am I strapped down? Can someone tell what’s going on? Is everyone okay? Is someone hurt?” His puzzlement is turn into impatience, but Pidge looks unmoved.

“Keith, everything and everyone is okay. Stay calm, alright? We’ll have you out in a little while. Try not to worry. Tell me, do you have any strong urges right now, not involving your current predicament.”

Keith pauses and thinks for a moment, seemingly trying to find the words. “I feel… a sense of dread. Like someone is hurt.

“Interesting. Anyone in particular? Sometimes I can tell who is hurt before they tell me by just a gut feeling.”

“It… It feels like… like when Lance got hurt. Remember when he had to stay in cryo-pod after saving Coran? That’s exactly what it feels like… Is… Is Lance okay? Is he hurt?”

“Keith, I just told you everyone is okay, and that includes Lance. You trust me, don’t you?”

The question seems to confuse him. “Of course, I do.”

“Then trust me when I tell you Lance is safe.”

“Can I talk to him? Even if it’s just for a second. I do trust you, but I can’t shake this feeling in my stomach.”

Pidge considers silently for a long moment. “You can talk to anyone else in the Castle, but not Lance. Allura and Coran are researching something for me, but if you want to talk to them, I can call them in. Shiro, Hunk and I are all here. If you really want, we can even bring Kaltenecker here and you can talk to Kaltenecker. But Lance is off limits.”

“What?! Why?!” He bursts out, his quick temper already flaring.

“I could ask you the same question. You and Lance spend more time bickering than breathing. Why are you suddenly so concerned for him?”

“I… I just have to talk to him! Please! I feel like I’m going to be sick! Katie, please! I don’t want to talk to anyone else, just him!”

Pidge turns off the intercom and turns to the others. “He’s still possessed. I have a feeling that all it takes is one of his senses to detect Lance and he’ll revert back into Unhelpfully-Strong-Lover-Boy. We had originally mentioned that someone should go get Lance for lunch, and Keith practically shot out of his chair to do it. And now that I’m thinking about it, he had been talking about you off and on all morning. He probably got close to your room and smelled your candles. They would remind him of you, which would be enough to switch the personality. If I let him talk to you, he’ll revert back and probably break free.” She types rapidly into her computer, muttering under her breath.

“So, the question is, what is this thing?” Shiro asks ponderously.

“No, the question is what does it want?” Pidge corrects.

“Other than me, apparently,” Lance sighs glumly. He takes no joy watching and listening to Keith yell and scream and tug at the restraints. Pidge mutes him a moment later

“It’s odd,” Pidge continues. “Keith doesn’t remember attacking you.” She glances at Lance, and seeing the trail of hickeys that his jacket doesn’t quite cover, she smirks. “He doesn’t remember attacking you and doesn’t seem to realize just how weird and out of place it is that he wants you so badly. It’s like it’s a weird form of psychosis that he can’t break from.”

“Pidge,” Allura’s voice purrs over the conference room’s comms. Lance is suddenly very aware of how well designed the comm system is, since the comms can either address the entire Castle, or one or two rooms in particular, making it ideal for situations such as this. “We may have found something.”

“Go ahead.”

“That planet we visited, Amandigaral, is toxic to galra. But not in the deadly way, just in the inconvenient way. Amandigaral, roughly translated, means ‘loving galra’. Basically, it targets a galra’s subconscious and makes them really… what’s the human word… horny.”

The four paladins gape. Lance blushes, suddenly very glad he hit the trouble button.

“No… Perhaps that’s not the right word… it’s too intense… not quite right... hold on… I don’t know if there is a human word to describe this. It makes them uninhibited to romantically and sometimes sexually, but not usually, pursue whomever they first lay eyes on after being infected. In this case, I do believe it’s Lance.

“The infection is shockingly smart. It will do what it has to to convince the target to come to the infected galra. It will do every trick in the book, play every card in its hand. The infected will actually… go insane, if the target dies at any point within several vargas of the infected’s infection. If the infected does not contact the target at least once a quintant, the infected will go insane. There is a cure…. Or at least a way of satisfying the infection.”

“Okay, that’s good… What is it?” Pidge asks, watching her computer screen very closely. Shiro stands behind her, reading over her shoulder.

“Near as I can tell… It’s just to let them work it out of their system. Let them be with their target. It works even faster if their target reciprocates, or least pretends to. They won’t ever intentionally hurt the target, and if the target shows any sign of pain, the infected becomes absolutely _horrified_ and they are known to do anything to get back in good favor with their target. It only lasts so long, and eventually the infected will wake up with their memory completely intact, and usually pretty mortified.”

“Will his human biology have any effect on the infection?”

“Not that I can tell. I _think_ , and this is a strong think, that humans can get infected too, but for them to get infected, they have to ingest the plant in the form of a tea-like beverage. Whereas if a galra some much as breathes in the scent of the plant, they’re infected.”

“Is there an actual cure that we can give him?” Lance asks softly.

“GUYS!” Hunk’s panic interrupts, his eyes glued to the screen. Lance, feeling a little ill, turns to the screen and watches Keith, in his silenced desperation, rip the ties binding him and break free, getting up to pound on the door. Pidge had disabled the door earlier for this exact purpose.

“He’s going to hurt himself,” Lance murmurs quietly, his eyes sad. There is turmoil in his stomach and a blush he’s beginning to suspect is permanent on his cheeks and ears. “Pidge, enable the doors. I’ll go down and hang out with him until he’s okay again. Allura, how long...?”

“If… If you reciprocate, it shouldn’t be more than a couple vargas. Sorry, Lance. This isn’t fair to you at all. But, truly, it is the best way to help Keith. I wish there were another way, but any other way would take, at the very least, a movement.”

“It’s okay… I’ll call if I need anything, okay?” Lance gets up, Hunk catching his shoulder.

“Buddy, if you don’t want to… You don’t have to, okay?” Hunk murmurs quietly. “I know how sensitive you are with things like this. Nobody’s given you much of a choice, but I’ll have your back if you want out, okay?”

Lance finally smiles at that. “You’re a good dude, Hunk. Thanks for that. I needed that, man. But I’ll be okay. It’ll make it so Keith gets better faster, and I _do_ want to help.”

“You’re a good guy, Lance. I don’t know if that’s feeding your ego or something you need to hear more often, but you are.”

“Thanks, Hunk. Right back atcha, dude.”

And with that, Lance is off.

 

“Keith, Lance is heading your way now. Stay near the infirmary and he’ll meet you there.”

“How can I trust you?!” Lance can hear Keith’s voice echoing down the halls, and picks up the pace a little more.

Then he sees him. His back is turned to him and with a gulp of fear, Lance calls out, “Hey, Keith?”

In a flash, Keith is purplish-pink, and smiling at him in his dopey, flirty way. Lance holds out his hands in a moment of panic. “WAIT!”

Keith stops, cocking his head to one side, much to Lance’s surprise.

“Don’t… Don’t shove me, okay? And don’t hold me down. I don’t like that. I want to help, but I don’t like that… like at all.”

Keith nods exaggeratedly. Still, he waits, clearly aiming to please Lance. “And please don’t bite me.” Lance nervously rubs his neck where the trail of red spots is. He hates that it’s so obvious what happened and he hates that he had no say in it.

He nods again, his body trembling and swaying. “Yes,” he says once. The dopey smile only makes it creepier, and suddenly Lance gets terrible zombie apocalypse vibes.

“Okay… You can come closer now.”

Keith approaches slowly, his glowing hands gently coming up and around Lance’s neck. With unexpected softness, Keith envelopes Lance in a hug, warm and tight, but not restricting or bad. Just, soft, gentle, firm.

Lance is pretty sure he can feel Keith vibrating with happiness. He tentatively hugs Keith back, feeling a delight shiver run up Keith’s spine. After a few minutes, Keith pulls back and licks his glossy lips, looking at Lance for permission. His eyes are half-closed as though he were mostly asleep. Lance decides it adds to the seductive appearance.

Lance licks his own lips, the ill feeling in his stomach beginning to dissipate. This was much more his speed. He briefly nods, watching carefully as Keith came in for a much less desperate kiss. It’s much less desperate this time, much calmer and more knowing.

And Lance kisses back this time, his eyes falling closed. He decides, in this moment, that he doesn’t dislike kissing Keith. He doesn’t _dislike_ Keith at all. In fact, he’s even willing to admit he’s had a small crush on the fellow paladin for a long time, perhaps even longer than he’s willing to admit.

Keith practically purrs in response, and the purple glow beyond Lance’s eyelids dims a little bit.

 

Over the course of the next varga, Keith and Lance kiss hundreds of times, Lance slowly moving the two of them into his room, out of the way and out of view. Keith gets better at knowing when Lance needs a break and Lance gets better at kissing him the way he (or, rather, the infection) likes.

Slowly, the glow dims and the lipgloss, which Lance realizes tastes like raspberry, begins to rub off. The glint in his eyes becomes less noticeable, the shaking wracking his frame less prominent. He sways less when he stands on his own, the dopey grin relaxing into an expression significantly more Keith-like in nature.

And, Lance realizes, he can talk a little more freely.

He mumbles ‘sorry’ after every kiss, the infection completely unaware he’s doing it. He hesitates and tries to hold back now; his cheeks stained a dark red instead of a light pink. He grows stiffer and less unbothered as the glow fades away completely.

It takes a complete two vargas, but finally Keith snaps out of it.

Keith, like waking up out of a dream, shoves Lance back, pressing himself up against the wall, panting heavily. Frazzled and scared, he runs his hands through his hair, trying to make sense of his discombobulated, but now complete, memory.

“Holy shit,” he murmurs, over and over and over. “Lance,” he gasps finally, his face the darkest red its capable of.

“It’s okay, Keith… It’s okay… We’re good, okay? We’re good. I’m okay, you’re okay. It’s all okay. It wasn’t your fault.”

“But… But I-” Keith stammers, his eyes wide with horror. “I…. I _kissed_ you! Holy shit! I… I fricking shoved you against a wall and… and… and fricking violated you! Holy shit! Holy shit!”

“Keith, breathe,” Lance commands. “Or I’ll take you back to get infected again.” He would never, in a million years, _ever_ do that to Keith, but Keith doesn’t have to know that.

Keith takes a huge deep breath and lets it out slow.

“Good. Now I want you to repeat after me. Understand?”

Keith nods, his fingers still threaded in his hair.

“This is not my fault.”

“This… This is not my fault,” Keith falters weakly, clearly not believing the words he was saying.

“Again.”

“This isn’t my fault.”

“Again.”

“This is not my fault.”

“Once more.”

“This is not my fault.”

“Good, Keith,” Lance smiles gently. “I’m not upset. I’m not mad. I don’t hate you. I don’t think you’d normally do anything like that ever. I’m not disgusted with you, and I certainly don’t think you’re a pervert. I’m not going to avoid you in the future. You’re still my friend. I still trust you. I still think you’re fantastic. Did I miss anything?”

“I’m so, so sorry, Lance,” he says softly. “I… I can’t believe I… I’m so sorry…” He sounds like he’s about to cry, and honestly, Lance can’t blame him.

“Keith, I accept your apology,” Lance says easily, but somberly. “This… This was a lot for both of us, okay? But I’m sorry too, okay? I’m sorry too.” Keith laughs once in a disbelieving way, his eyes welling with tears. He wipes the unabashedly, stunned. “Keith… Do you want a hug?” Lance asks tentatively, feeling small in a room full of crushing quiet, the air full of things they hadn’t said and probably weren’t going to say. “I could really use a hug right now.”

Keith, equally timid, nods.

The two teens, brave beyond words but scared out of their minds, embrace tightly.

Already, Lance can _feel_ the difference between this Keith and the infected Keith. This Keith has so much _more_ to him, is so much more real. He sighs into Keith’s neck, feeling some of the tension drain out of the room. A hug can say a lot of things, Lance realizes slowly, as he feels wet tears drip down his neck. Keith’s hands are latched tightly onto his jacket and Lance’s hand has crawled its way up to tangle in Keith’s hair, holding his head loosely to his collar bone. Keith's nose rubs against the hickeys.

“Thank you,” Keith whispers.

“What for?”

“For… Being you, I guess. For forgiving me. For understanding. For… For kissing me, I guess. For… You know, not being an asshole and generally just making things feel okay even if they really aren’t… And thanks for the hug. I think I needed it more than you did.”

Lance squeezes him gently, making no move to release him. “It was just kissing. In the grand scheme of things, no big deal. You didn’t hurt me, didn’t go too far.” Lance shakes his head at the thought, squeezing again. “We’ll be okay. Maybe not exactly like we were before, but change is good.”

Keith mumbles something into Lance’s chest, something that Lance doesn’t catch. “What’s that?” He asks softly, not sure how sensitive the content of the message is.

“I’m glad it was you.”

Lance frowns and pulls back to look Keith in the eyes. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

Purple eyes widen in anxiety and Keith’s freckles get consumed by his blush. “I-I… That sounds worse than I meant it! I’m sorry! I-I-”

Lance places his long, soft hands on Keith’s cheeks, making him blush even more, but he doesn’t pull away. “Breathe. Calm down. We’re in no hurry. I know you didn’t mean it that way. I’m here. I’m here to listen, to be with you. Just calm down, and talk slowly.”

“I meant… I meant that of everyone here, and everyone that planet, I’m glad it was you, because you’re so patient and kind and understanding. You knew what I’d do if you came to me again and you did it anyway to help me. Besides… actually…”

“What is it?” Lance inquires softly.

“Do you like me?” Keith asks in a fast breath, his eyes scared.

Lance thinks for a moment. “Yes.”

“Despite everything?”

“A little late to change my answer now,” Lance jokes, his face serious.

 “Would… Would you mind if… if… I… Can… Can I kiss you?”

Lance nods. This is not what he was expecting.

Keith, on tip-toes, kisses him slowly.

This is their first kiss, the first real one.

It’s nothing like with the infection. This is so _real_ and _intense_ and emotional that all thought of the infected Keith being a good kisser leaves his mind because _crow,_ that infection had nothing on the real deal. Lance feels like he’s simultaneously drowning and more alive than he’s ever been. He’s out of air, yet he’s never breathed better. It’s exactly like in the movies and the movies could never have captured this moment.

Keith tastes vaguely of raspberries.

They break apart moments later, only to catch their breaths and kiss again.

 

It ends with a kiss.


End file.
